How is gender identity influenced by social structures?

Are we ever free to construct our own gender identity? To simplify the issue it would be easier to say that the world we live in is a structure that constrains and shapes our gender identity, the formation of which is kept in line with social boundaries that guide us in specific directions throughout our lives, using gender appropriation as the tool. However, if we are to inspect the issue from a more dispassionate point …showed first 75 words of 885 total…

…showed last 75 words of 885 total… die. References Daily Mail, 19/01/2004 Woodward, K. (2004) DD100 Questioning Identity: gender, class, ethnicity. Milton Keynes, The Open University. The Open University (2004) DD100 An Introduction to the Social Sciences: Understanding Social Change, Goldblatt, D. Mackintosh, M. & Woodward, K. Block 1, Workbook 1, Milton Keynes, The Open University. http://www.arabnews.com/, Raid Qusti, Wednesday, 18, June, 2003, Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia http://www.marxismmadesimple.esmartweb.com/gender.htm, Gender. http://fmla.homeip.net/femdef.php, Jaron Benjamin, FMLAUNT,